Nick Sandmann, the junior at the center of the highly-publicized encounter between a Native American elder and Catholic high school students that took place at the Lincoln Memorial last Friday, says he respects the elder and wishes he "could have walked away and avoided the whole thing."

"As far as standing there, I had every right to do so," Sandmann said during an interview with Savannah Guthrie on NBC's "Today". "My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. [Nathan] Phillips. I respect him. I'd like to talk to him.

"In hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing."

Phillips was attending a Native American rally in Washington, D.C., when he started singing and playing his drum at a March for Life event after he noticed tension between a group of mostly white students from Covington Catholic High School and about four men who identify as Hebrew Israelites.

Sandmann in an earlier statement said Phillips walked up to him and got into his personal space, which videos prove.

"I never felt like I was blocking the Native American protestor," said Sandmann, refuting accounts he blocked Phillips from crossing his path. "He did not make any attempt to go around me. It was clear to me that he had singled me out for a confrontation, although I am not sure why."

The Covington High School student at the center of the controversial encounter with the Native American respects his counterpart, but told NBC's "Today" that "in hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing."

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